If you are in the market for a laptop stand and don’t want something that is simply utilitarian, then the Twelve South GhostStand may be just the thing for you. Made from clear lucite, the GhostStand makes it look as if your laptop is floating. Best of all, the GhostStand is just $34.99. Get one!

Like all Twelve South products the GhostStand comes in a heavy gift box-looking package. The box includes tips on various ways you can reuse the box. I’m not sure if people actually make use of these tips, but it is good to see a company trying to keep a bit of packaging out of the landfills!

The GhostStand consists of two pieces of leucite. Each comes with a layer of protective plastic covering it that helps keep the lucite scratch-free.

One of the two parts has a small Twelve South logo on the back. The other has the words “GhostStand”. In both cases the marking is subtle, so you won’t notice them unless you are looking to find them. And since the laptop will be sitting on the stand, you really won’t see the logo and name at all!

The GhostStand requires a complicated super simple one-time assembly process. The piece with the Twelve South logo goes into the second piece. From there you line up the notches and force them into position vertically.

This is what the GhostStand looks like when the two pieces are assembled.

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The GhostStand looks like an incredibly simple accessory. And while it is not complicated, there is more to it than meets the eye. As Twelve South explains,

Take a close look at GhostStand and you’ll spot ultra-thin silicone rails on the top and bottom of this clear stand. Double-inlaid rails feature a narrow strip of silicone inset into a thin sliver of metal. The brushed metal rail is then machined into the lucite blades GhostStand rests on. Soft silicone rails protect your work surface and they grip the bottom of your MacBook to hold it in place while your work or play on your MacBook.

The GhostStand raises any size MacBook up by 6″, and puts it at a comfortable angle for both viewing and typing. And if the laptop isn’t on the GhostStand, after all laptops are meant to be mobile, it still looks neat.

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I like the Twelve South GhostStand, and I think it looks amazingly cool. I think the $34.99 price is excellent, and it makes this accessory accessible to most MacBook owners. The GhostStand does a great job of creating a stable base for your notebook while raising it to a more comfortable height, and I like the fact that if you add in a keyboard and mouse you can turn your laptop into a desktop.

At the same time I cannot help but wish the stand could be broken down a taken with you. The two piece of the base would easily slip into a gear bag, so it could go with you while traveling. I also wish the stand were adjustable. My daily use laptop stand is the Twelve South HiRise, and I love being able to adjust the height of the laptop. (Read our review.) I also love the fact that I can stow my keyboard beneath the HiRise when I am not using it, but that’s not possible with the GhostStand.

Still, the $34.99 price of the GhostStand is a full $30 less than the HiRise. Add in the fact that the GhostStand looks pretty amazingly cool, and it is a MacBook accessory that is hard not to like. Get it.

MSRP: $34.99

What I Like: Inexpensive; Looks cool; Easy to assemble

What Needs Improvement: Not adjustable; Once assembled it is intended to stand that way; No way to stow your keyboard beneath the stand

Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”)Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him.